Question 1.

Identify several ways in which follower and task characteristics might

determine which style of leadership is most appropriate. (Trần Tiến Anh + Nguyễn
Thùy Linh)
The answer provided below has been developed in a clear step-by-step manner.
Step 1: According to the expectation hypothesis, people are more likely to accomplish their
tasks if they have confidence in their abilities, believe their efforts will lead to a specific
outcome, and think the rewards will be worthy. These three elements foster an atmosphere where
people are encouraged to fulfill their obligations. By guaranteeing that followers will be able to
advance the group's purpose provided they are motivated and follow defined pathways, the
expectation lends weight to the path-goal hypothesis.
Explanation:
The path-goal theory takes four leadership behaviors into account:

 Directive: The leader will give the followers instructions on how to carry out their
assignment, including a deadline, a breakdown of what is expected of them, and a
description of how it is to be finished. A directive manager provides clear guidelines that
are unchangeable in any form.
 Supportive: The leader is approachable and compassionate, and they are concerned
about the basic needs of individuals who are following them.
 Participative: The leader of the group or organization will speak with the participants in
the group or organization, solicit their opinions, and consider their suggestions when
making decisions.
 Achievement-Oriented: The leader will establish lofty goals for the followers, and they
are expected to progress consistently..
Step 2:
The traits of followers affect how employees interpret a leader's actions.

- The need to feel connected to others

- Preferences regarding the structure of the organization
- A desire to hold or exercise authority
- Degree of self-perceived competence in doing the job

As followers want connection, they look for motivating leaders. Because they require a strong
foundation and framework to accomplish what they are unsure about, authoritarian and dogmatic
followers look for a prescriptive leader. Two distinct groupings of followers seeking control
result from internal and external loss of control. For followers who feel an internal loss of
control, a participative leader is best, whereas for those who feel an external loss of control, a
directive leader is best.
The amount of motivation felt by the group's members is likely to rise whenever the group's
leader is compelled to speak up and make the group's rules and regulations clear. Any situation
where the leader aids those followers in overcoming challenges will result in an increase in their
motivation.
Conditions in which the four leadership styles are optimized
When the followers are authoritarian and dogmatic, the task requirements are ambiguous, the
organization's rules are murky, and the work is arduous, a directed leadership style works best.

- A supporting approach works well for structured, time-consuming, or difficult activities.

- Participatory leadership works best when a task is ambiguous since it shows how various
paths might lead to various answers. Also, it works best when followers are independent
and desire to be led.
- When followers are given ambiguous duties, goal-oriented leadership is at its most
successful.
Step 3: Task qualities, in addition to follower traits, also significantly affect how a leader's
behavior affects followers' motivation. Task characteristics include:

- The design of the followers’ tasks

- The formal authority system of the organization
- The primary work group of followers

These qualities can motivate followers on their own, when taken together. When a situation has a
clearly defined task, strong group norms, and a well-established authority structure, followers
will be able to see the ways to the desired goals on their own and won't require coaching from
the leader to do so. It will give followers the impression that they can complete their tasks and
that their efforts are worthwhile. In these situations, leadership could be thought of as
unnecessary, unempathic, and excessively controlling.
The path-goal theory places specific emphasis on assisting followers in overcoming challenges.
In the workplace, obstacles might be anything that prevents followers from following. In
particular, impediments put followers in a situation where there are too many doubts,
frustrations, or dangers. According to path-goal theory, in these situations, it is the leader's duty
to assist followers by removing these barriers or assisting them in getting through them. Helping
followers overcome these challenges will raise their confidence in their ability to complete the
assignment and will improve their sense of job satisfaction.

Question 2. Case study 6.3

Exercise 1. Path-goal leadership is about how leaders can help followers reach their goals.
Generally, what are the goals for the students in each of the different orchestras? What
obstacles do they face? In what way does Martina help them address obstacles and reach
their goals? (Tiển Cẩm Nhung)
Elementary school group – the goal for this group is to o get the students interested in studying
the instrument, learn more about playing in the orchestra, and help each child believe that they
can play an instrument.
The main obstacle is that that the youngsters have never played an instrument before, making it
difficult to train them and ensure they can make the instruments sound properly.
Martina is highly encouraging, social, forbearing, and kind to create an environment of
encouragement rather than forcing. She also goes into great depth in her directions and slowly
explains to the kids how to play and consistently complements them every tiny step of the way to
make them feel like they can do it. She also teaches her students how to hold their instruments,
position their tongues, and read notes in great detail. Because of her efforts, the orchestra's spring
concert was a huge success, with joyful children and delighted parents.
Middle school group - the goal for this group is to encourage the children to continue playing
instruments and leverage their talents.
The main obstacle is some of students are becoming disinterested and want to quit as some take
the practice to be boring and tedious.
Martina has a different leadership approach with the middle schoolers, emphasizing practice and
challenging pupils to develop their skills. Furthermore, she is more directive, yet she
demonstrates to her students the benefit of their hard work. She places learners according to their
playing ability, with the best player sitting in the first chair and the worst player sitting in the
last. Every week, the students compete to advance their sitting positions. She also gives out "the
grab bag of goodies," which includes candy, trinkets, and gift cards to those who practice and
achieve their goals. The unpredictability of the offered presents drives students to achieve their
goals because they never know what their award will be, especially because they all want to
obtain the gift cards. Finally, the spring performance for this group is successful when the
performance is great and the kids are motivated to perform effectively.
High school group – The goal is to keep students engaged in performing in orchestras and to
help them grow in their careers.
The biggest obstacle is that many students seem to be less enthusiastic about playing and desire
to stop when they get interested in other things such as academics, sports, or finding a job. As a
result, it is difficult to re-enthuse children about the benefits of performing in an orchestra.
Martina teaches advanced techniques and assigns difficult music to students who still like
playing in the orchestra. She spends hours listening to each student's performance and offering
personalized comments.
Exercise 2. Based on the principles of expectancy theory described in the chapter, why is
Martina effective with the elementary and middle school orchestras? Why do both of these
groups seem motivated to play for her? In what ways did she change her leadership style
for the middle schoolers? (Phạm Thị Kiều Chinh)
As described in chapter 6, the main content of expectancy theory is about the goals which
followers want to reach and how leaders assist them and give them rewards when accomplishing
their goals.
In this case study, Martina effectively leads students in the elementary and middle school
orchestra since she can fully understand the objectives of each individual as well as associates
these goals with specific prizes while ensuring that those rewards fulfill their own needs. She has
properly recognised the ability of each group to complete the task and made the goals attainable
for them.
Both elementary school students and middle school students are motivated to play in the
orchestra because Martina helps elementary school students feel competent and confident that
they can accomplish their goals, while middle school students believe that their efforts to
improve their musical skills will be rewarded and they find the result of their hard work to be
worthwhile. To be more specific, primary school pupils desire to learn how to play instruments.
Martina therefore links this objective to the benefit of being able to achieve it. She also attempts
to provide an environment that is patient, kind, compassionate, and forgiving, and she teaches
everything students need to know, such as how to handle the instruments, where to place their
tongues, or how to read notes, in order for them to achieve their objectives. The situation is the
same in middle school, where Martina links the pupils' desire to improve their playing skills to
other prizes including proper seating position, gift cards, candies, and trinkets. She also spends a
lot of time listening to them, attempting to understand their weaknesses, and providing them with
individualized comments.
When Martina realized her leadership approach was useless with middle schoolers, she also
changed it. She searches for innovative approaches that would force the kids to hone and
improve their abilities. She creates the "chairs" challenge, in which kids compete for the first
chairs and are awarded incentives for making an attempt to progress to higher chairs. In addition,
Martina leverages their enthusiasm for the spring concert to help them reach their own
objectives.
Exercise 3. Martina's competencies as a musician do not seem to help her with the students
who are becoming disinterested in orchestra. Why? Using ideas from expectancy theory,
what would you advise her to do to improve her leadership with the high school orchestra?
(Trần Tiến Đạt)
Martina is successful with the elementary and middle group because she has appropriately
recognized potential of each group to do the assignment and made the objective feasible for
them. Martina initially thought teaching was enjoyable, but she is now becoming demoralized
and troubled to the point where she wonders why she had to teach. Her leadership is turning to
be ineffectual, especially among middle school scholars which encourages them. Despite being a
fantastic musician, Martina was unable to satisfy the needs of the high school group because she
failed to convey the importance of activity. The Martina’s high education and training on
orchestra can be a contributing factor. She goes beyond the objectives of the pupils to introduce
even more sophisticated methods that might not be required at the middle school level. This
makes the student to perceive the performing orchestra as demanding rather than exciting. The
benefit that would result from the achievement of the aim was not understood by the students.
She was also unaware of the objective she had set for herself and the benefit that would follow
which is "hone her skill" and enjoying teaching. She didn't comprehend that some of student may
come out to obtain some transcripts, interact with pals, or they were driven into doing orchestra.
Instead of show them advanced skills, she could discuss other aspects that may be missing and
could be motivating the students to quit. Knowing how to manage each student may benefit from
understanding their skill levels, experience, knowledge, and personalities. She need to
understand that everyone join the orchestra to become the professional just like her. And find the
way to change her leadership styles as per the requirement of the situation.
Exercise 4. Achievement-oriented leadership is one of the four major kinds of path-goal
leadership. For which of the three orchestras do you think this style would be most
effective? Discuss. (Đầu Thị Thảo Nguyên)
The achievement-oriented leadership style pushes followers by setting high standards of
performance and motivating them to continue striving for excellence. As a result, this technique
would be ideal for middle school students. Because kids at that age enjoy receiving presents as
well as being appreciated, this technique might drive children to continue practicing in the
orchestra to improve their talents while also challenging them to attain their goals. Aside from
that, the teacher has high trust in the students at this level since they have a foundation in the
orchestra and can do a lot on their own to reach their goals.